SHE lifted her finger with gesture slow: "'Tis true, for certain and sure, I know, And I think when I say so you ought to be- lieve— They kneel in their stalls on Christmas Eve. "The red one, the white one, the speckled and brown, When the clock strikes twelve, will all kneel down; And it happens so every Christmas Eve, —Well, I'll tell you this, if you won't believe: "Once, ages and ages ago it was, I thought I would see for myself, because I doubted a little, just like you, Whether or no the story was true; "And so one Christmas Eve I staid Awake till twelve—Oh, I was afraid! The wind was a-blowing, and no moon shone, But I went to the stable myself, alone. "And when I had slid the big doors back I couldn't go in, it was so black; But—solemn and true—I do declare I heard the cows when they knelt down! There!"
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